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Friday, 25 July 2008

My hand is there in the picture because I am trying to hide my horrible chin!! lol

Firstly, thanks for the Birthday wishes. My day was alright, we went up to London so I could get my hair cut...but we got there and he said that he can't do anything with it because it's too short. And if he did cut it, it would be a waste of growth! lol. So, I have to ring him back once it's longer and he will definitely do it then. When I got home I went to the pub with a couple of my friends and while I was there, I got told to be quiet!! Which is saying something because I didn't think my voice was that loud, haha.

We are moving house tomorrow and haven't had internet connection since Tuesday and I don't think we will for another couple of weeks. I am at my friends house right now. I am also going up north again on Monday and will be coming home on the 1st August.

Yesterday I had my monthly check up with Mr Pace. He felt my neck...said everything was fine. Then the phone rang and it was my blood test results. My thyroid levels came back normal so I guess the tiredness is just still from the radiotherapy...or probably because I am lazy lol. Then he put the camera down and spent a while looking and said "It looks good' - he says that everytime! lol. Then I asked about my scan and he said that it will definitely be before my next appointment which is on the 21st August.

My next appointment will be at St Johns Hospital so Mr Pace can take a picture of my throat because they don't have that equipment at St Peters. He said that Dr Tahir will be there (YAY!!!!!) so I am really happy that I get to see him.

Afterwards, I had speech therapy. I went up and Hilary called me in and then I told her when my next appointment is. She said that it will be another appointment where there will be about 10 people in the room. I had that once before and I was really shocked when I walked in to the room, lol. So at least now I have warning! There will be Mr Pace, Dr Tahir, Hilary, two nurses, a dietician, the lady from macmillan, maybe a junior Doctor and then another lady (can't remember why she'll be there) and finally, Adele. Who was my cancer nurse. Plus me and my Mum, so it's going to be packed!! I hope everyone enjoys looking at my vocal chords lol.

The rest of speech therapy went ok, we didn't really concentrate on my voice because I felt a bit light headed so we just spoke about things really. Oh, we were speaking about my weight and Hilary said she'd tell the dietician so she will speak to me on the 21st. Hopefully she'll help me lose weight...I need to!

My next speech therapy is on 14th August.

This morning my Mum woke me up and said that Eve (a nurse from the Hospital) phoned and said that the 'big' scan is on the 6th August - apparently I should have had one in April? I know I had one in March...I think it was in March anyway. I think I am having a PET scan because I have to go half an hour before to drink the stuff. I've not had one of those scans before! I bet it tastes rank. I don't know when I will get the results, probably on the 21st? I hope it's sooner than that because two weeks is a long time to wait. So...wish me luck!!

Friday, 11 July 2008

The first picture I have posted with no bandana on!! My hair is starting to get curls at the back now and it's still really dark.Yesterday was my first day of not wearing a bandana all day - I haven't worn it today either. I feel naked without one on! lol. But I just look stupid with a bandana on now because you can blatantly see I have hair. My sideburns are nearly long enough to tuck behind my ears, yay!

So yes, today marks 3 months since I finished treatment. I didn't even realise it's been so long until I looked at the date last night. I was shocked! It's weird...because it feels like I only finished about a month ago - but then at the same time it feels forever ago. Very strange!

I had a blood test last Friday to check my thyroid, I haven't heard anything back from Mr Pace so I'm guessing he either hasn't got the results back yet or there's nothing wrong.I also haven't heard anything about my scan, so I reckon it will be in August now instead of this month.

Yesterday I had speech therapy, it went really really well. My speech therapist is really impressed with me and she said that because my vocal chords have had so much trauma she didn't think that my voice would be as good as it is now! (Did that make sense?) - I had to (try to) sing Nursery rhymes yesterday. I was so embarassed lol. But, I did it and I was glad that she was doing it too and not just asking me to do it on my own! I didn't really sing them properly, but I said them and had to (try to) go high and low in the parts that needed to be. She also had me doing some other weird stuff lol.She said that Mr Pace said my vocal chords are smooth and he can't see any bumps. She also said he told her that my my left vocal chord is moving more than what it was last time...so here's to hoping at some point my vocal chords will close together completely like they're supposed to!I have a task to do this week, well three really. I have to phone my speech therapist 3 times until I next see her and leave her a message. It's a confidence building thing! Lol. I did it last night and it wasn't so bad, I don't mind leaving answerphone messages...or talking to people I know. I just don't like talking to people who I don't know and then they ask why I've got a weird voice or whatever. I just can't be arsed explaining the whole story and if I say "Oh, I had throat cancer" then they are probably going to feel bad for asking me!

We talked about the sore throats I get in the morning and also, when I wake up it feels like I have a block of mucas (yuck) at the back of my throat. It makes me want to gag if I eat or drink too soon after waking up. She said that it's normal and it will probably happen for the rest of my life lol. It doesn't bother me though. I can't remember what else we talked about...hmm. Oh, I have to keep my neck moving because it can become stiff (especially when I'm older) - I think that was it!

I also have to sing Nursery Rhymes to keep my voice going lol. And just talk a lot (which I do anyway!!) - Luckily, I babysit on Monday's so I can sing Nursery Rhymes with the little boy, he wont think I'm weird.

My next check up is on the 23rd July with Mr Pace to look down my throat...it'll actually only be 3 weeks after my last one but I am away when the 4 weeks would be up. But it kind of evens it out because last time I went 5 weeks between appointments if that makes sense.After my check up, my speech therpist just said to go up to the therapy department and see her. She said she'd like to come down and look at my vocal chords and I'm not bothered...she can have a look lol. But, she said she'd do it another time instead.

I am having my first haircut on Monday! Well, actually...hopefully nothing will be cut! But I am going to Trevor Sorbie's salon in Covent Garden and he is going to give me some tips and stuff on what to do with short hair as I have NO idea. As the last time I had short hair was when I was about 18 months old lol.

It's also my Birthday on Monday. I will be 19! I'm not really doing anything for it...just going up to London to get my hair done. I would get drunk but I'm a bit funny about drinking alcohol now because I know it can cause throat cancer too lol. I will drink sometimes, but not how a 'normal' 18/19 year old would! Haha. Who says you have to drink alcohol to have fun anyway? (Well, it does make things a bit more fun!!)

I will probably update on Monday just to say Happy Birthday to myself, lol.

Thursday, 3 July 2008

I'll try to make this quick because I have to go out in a minute. But, knowing me it will end up really long anyway!

I had my monthly check up today, I had to wait a bit longer than I usually do but I'm not bothered. Mr Pace asked how I was and I said I'd been feeling really tired and I wanted to know if I could have a blood test to check my thyroid because apparently it can be affected when having radiotherapy.So he gave me a blood test form and I went to go and get it today but it literally closed 2 minutes before we got there, annoying!! So, I'll go tomorrow morning.

I also asked when my scan will be and he said he doesn't know but he'll contact me via the post once he finds out.

Then he felt my neck, he said it felt fine. He confirmed that my double chin is lymph fluid (which is common) and that it should go away eventually. I can't wait!

Then I went over to have the camera done, he looked down there and said "It looks really good" and said that he was please. Mr Pace is a man of very few words!

That was pretty much all that happened, the computers were down so I don't know when my next appointment is but I'll get a letter in the post. Mr Pace said if there's any problems with my blood then he'll let me know.

He's going to speak to my speech therapist, Hilary and tell her what's going on there down there, I have an appointment on the 10th with her. He did notice that my voice has improved a lot since I last saw him.

Hmm...I've forgotten what else I was going to say.

Oh, two pictures for you...one of my hair and one of my neck.My hair looks darker in person, enough of the thickness...more of the length please!!

One last thing - everybody in the UK - Buy Love it! magazine on Tuesday the 8th July. I'm in it, eek!!

Wednesday, 2 July 2008

Just want to say thank you so much to Krystyn for giving my blog a makeover. I love love it!! Here's a link to her blog by the way, go say hi and tell her how much of a good job she did - http://krizzydesigns.blogspot.com/